Chinese man riddled with tapeworm after eating undercooked pork

Doctors in China uncovered hundreds of tapeworms in a man's brain and chest after he ate undercooked pork.

Zhu Zhongfa sought medical help after weeks of seizures and falling in and out of consciousness.

The 43-year-old is believed to have eaten undercooked pork that was contaminated with Taenia solium, a parasitic tapeworm.

"Different patients respond [differently] to the infection depending on where the parasites occupy," Dr Huang Jianrong, Zhongfa's doctor at Zhejiang University School of Medicine, told AsiaWire.

He said the larvae entered Zhongfa's body and left his digestive tract, making their way into his bloodstream.

Doctors diagnosed him with cysticercosis and neurocysticerosis and he was prescribed an antiparasitic drug and medications to protect his organs from further damage.

Dr Jianrong said his patient was doing well after a week of treatment, however any long term damage is unclear.

Cysticercosis infections occur worldwide, though these parasitic invasions of the human body mostly occur in rural areas of developing countries where pigs are allowed to roam and where sanitation practices are poor, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though these infections may be rare among people who live in countries where pigs do not have contact with human faeces, cysticercosis can be acquired anywhere in the world, including Australia and other western nations.